Process of making high temperature insulating products



g- 2 1932- J. D. MORGAN 1,373,014

PROCESS OF MAKING HIGH TEMPERATURE INSULATING PRODUCTS Filed Dec. 16, 1950 0 a v 7 v I I o o a a b d a 40 I a 11 Svwe'ntoz JOHN D. MORGAN 351 ht5 elf Smut Patented Aug. 23, 1932 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE .J'OHN D. MORGAN, OF SOUTH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO D OHERTY RESEARCH COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE PROCESS OF MAKING HIGH TEMPERATURE INSULATING PRODUCTS Application filed December 16, 1930. Serial No. 502,712,

This invention is a continuation in part of the application of John D. Morgan, Serial No. 286,831, filed June-20, 1928.

The present process relates to the art of heat insulation. It is often desired to insulate furnaces and like apparatus against the loss of heat. The material used for this purpose should be refractory and should have a high strength under compression at high temperature. It is desirable also that the material be at the same time of light weight.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a product fulfilling the above requirements, and a method of making the same. I

The product according to the present invention is a refractory containing a relatively large percentage of voids and at the same time possessing relatively high crushing strength at 2500 F. It is made of a refractoryaggregate, a small amount of pulverulent metal, and a bond capable of generating a gas when in contact with said metal. It will be understood that these ingradients do not always appear in the final product. The refractory aggregate maybe of any of the well-known materials now known to be capable of resisting high temperatures. The porosity of the final product is due to the fact that the bondingmaterial in part reacts with the small amount of metal to generate a gas. These gases which are generated'before the refractory aggregate has set in its final form and while it is still in a plastic condition, expand, and inflate the same in a manner analogous to the action of yeast in bread dough to give the final product a light. porous structure.

In the manufacture of porousrefractory materials, wherein, batches in large quantities are made according to the aboveprocess considerable haste must be used to dry the resulting product within a short time after its preparation since the bonding ma terial, water and metal present in the mixture react to cause evolution of gases and cause inflation of the mixture before the time of heat treatment. By the time the batch is ready for heat treatment, most of the gases will have escaped with the result that the final product is not so porous as desired.

It is a further object of this invention to avoid these difficulties.

To this end it is a feature of this invention to add a colloid, such as collodion, gum arabic, glue, resins, or other readily adhesive substance which will decompose at relatively low temperature and will adhereto and coat the pulverulent'metallic materials used in the composition to make the refractory material.- The use of the colloid forms a protective coating on the particles of the metal to retard the reaction between the metallic par- I ticles and the bonding material until the desired time. At such time when the reaction between the bond, water, and the pulverulent metal is desired, the protective structure of the colloid will break down at low temperatures and release the metallic material, thus exposing it to the action of the bonding agent, such as phosphoric acid, and the water. In this manner, therefore, when batches of refractory material are ready for heat treatment the colloid will protect the particles of the metal from the chemical action of the phosphoric acid in water until the desired time, without any substantial rising action occurring in the composition.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following descrip- 1 tion taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a square block illustrating the forms and structure of the preferred heat insulating material.

Fig. 2 is a section of the insulating block on an enlarged scale taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

In the drawing, 10 is a block of refractory containing a large number of cells or holes 12 of various sizes. The walls of cells 12 are preferably of small grains of zircon bonded by phosphates non-volatile at the temperatures to which the-refractory product is to be subjected.

The product embodying the present invention is preferably produced in molds and the block will be understood to be an illustration of a block according to the present invention which has been molded in a square mold. When molded, a skin. 14 forms on the outer surface of the product so that most of the cells in the product where adjacent the surface are covered. This fact prevents transfer of heat through the product by conveotion. It will be noted that few of the cells 12 appear atthe surface of block 10 in Fig.1, the greater majority of the cells adjacent the surface of the block belng covered by the skin 14:.

An example of the ingredients of a composition used in making the present product is as follows: native zircon sand, or a mixture of native zircon sand and milled zircon, is mixed with approximately 1% of the powder of aluminum, 15% of powdered sulfur or flowers of sulfur, and 6% of P 05 which is preferably half in the form of H 1 0. and half as ('NHQ H1 0 in aqueous solution. The percentages just given are by Weight. The ingredients as stated are mixed together forming a wet mixture. Where the aggregate must stand for a considerable period in the wet mixed state, the powdered particles of aluminum are coated with a colloid such as glue, as previously described.

Any of the common metals, or their alloys,

may be substituted for thealuminum, it being necessary only that the metal or metallic substance develop a gas when in contact with the bond. Zinc, magnesium, and their alloys,

have been used, but are not as convenient as aluminum. The metal in a finely pulverulent state, under the conditions previously mentioned, is mixed with the colloid such as glue, to which water is added with constant stirring, to form a suspension of the pulverulent metal particlesin the glue. The glue coats At the temperature the metal particles after which they are unaffected by the presence of the phosphoric acid in the mixture at ordinary temperatures. The sulfur may be omitted or may be replaced by any ordinary combustible material to generate gases. If the acid is all in the form of H PO it is preferable to reduce the P 05 contents of themixture to 5%. The phosphate reaction. product of the aluminum has been found to act as a bond in the final product with the phosphate reaction products of the zircon, or other refractory. The mixture is shaped or molded and fired to a temperature of from 500 to 700 F. As the temperature of the mixture or composition rises during firing, the glue is destroyed and the metal particles exposed to the chemical action of the phosphoric acid, while the sulfurvaporizes and oxidizes, which actions tend to produce comparatively large volumes of vapors and gases. Y at which these vapors and gases are formed, the mixture is still and like structures.

time when suitable tern plastic, and has acquired, due to the characteristic of the bond, an elasticity oradhesive ness, somewhat analogous to read dough, so that the mass swells and becomes highly cellular. As the temperature rises further, the bond sets and the walls of the cells become rigid so that the final product has a considerable crushing strength, but owing to its high percentage of voids also has a high insulating capacity or resistance to heat flow. As the product is intended to withstand high temperature, it is preferred that it be fired to at least 2500 F. However, the product when bonded by phosphoric acid has a firm set at approximately 500 F. and a final set at approximately 7 00F. The product therefore need not be fired beyond 700 F. The swelling and formation of cells in the product therefore occurs below 500 F., but not at ordinary temperatures due to the protective action of the material coating the metal particles.

It is understood that a bond with basic characteristics may be substituted for the acid bond given in the previous example, without departing from the spirit and scope of this'invention.

It is well known to use insulating materials for'preventing the'loss of heat from furnaces Diatomaceous earth, kieselguhr, and the like have been used for this purpose. A brick made as described in the above example when tested at 2500 F. was found to have a static load strength under' compression of more than 40 pounds and an average of sixty pounds per square inch.

The product according to the present invention is substantially non-dusting and non-.

spalling and slags very little when in.

contact with the ordinary fuels and furnace charges. The high percentage of voids in the product of the present invention is indicated by the fact that the zircon material bonded b known means has a weight approximate cubic foot, Whereas t e product of the process according to the above example has a Weight of only pounds per cubic foot. A s ecimen of the product of the present invention has beenfound to have over 60% of voids when tested by the specific gravity method.

When the colloidal material or other retarder is used to prevent immediate chemical reaction between the metal and the phosphoric acid, the mixture has the further advantage that large batches of material can be made up and placed in molds without the rising action taking place until the desired ratures are applied. Although there has een herein described but a single preferred form of the invention, it will be understood that various modifica tions may be made by those skilled in the art in the. proportions and composition of the ingredients of the refractory aggregate withto pounds per 'sulting mixture into out departing from the scope of the present invention. Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. The method of making highly porous refractory which comprises treating a wet mixture containing by weight 1% of a powdered metal, the particles of which are coated with colloidal material, 15% of sulfur, 6% of P or its equivalent and the balance zircon sand at 500 to 700 F. and firing the resulting mass to a temperature of at least 2500 F.

2. The process of making highly porous refractory which comprises coating particles of a powdered metal with a layer of material in colloidal suspension and adding them to a batch of refractory aggregate con taining a bonding agent, molding .the redesired shape and firing the same at a temperature suflicient to decomposefthe layer of material in colloidal suspension coating the powdered metal prior to the setting of said aggregate.

3. The method of making refractory material which comprises coating pulverulent metal particles with an organic material, adding the same to a batch of refractory ag gregate containing substantially 78% of zircon and a bonding agent, and heating the mixture to decompose the at relativelylow temperatures to allow chemical action between the metal and the bonding agent.

4. A method of making a high strength cellular heat insulating refractory including mixing a refractory aggregate and acidic bonding agent in solution and capable of imparting to the mixture adhesiveness and plasticity and a metallic pulverulent substance enclosed in an organic coating adapted to prevent a reaction between the metallic substance and the acidic bonding a cut at ordinary temperatures, molding an developing a gas in the mixture by decomposing said coating to permit chemical reaction between the bonding agent and the pulverulent metal. 5. The method of making a high strength :ellular heat insulating refractory, including mixing zircon with approximatel 1% of powdered aluminum metal, iulfur and 6% ihaping and firing the mixture.

6. The method of making a high strength :ellular heat insulating refractory comprisng mixing a refractory aggregate with 1% owers of alumlnum powder in suspension in a colloidal :olution of an organic material and with a ompound of P 0 in aqueous solution and [ring the mixture.

The process of making a highly porous efractory whichcomprises coating particles f a powdered metal with a layer of adhesive material and adding the same to a batchof efractory aggregate containing a bonding gent capable of generating a gas when in ontact with said metal, molding the resultorganic material P 0 in aqueous solution, and

ingv mixture into the desired shape and firing JOHN D. MORGAN. 

